Out of the shadows, into the light: the role of historians of education in the production of public knowledge

Purpose The purpose of this article is to introduce the special issue of History of Education Review, titled Out of the shadows, into the light. It comprises five empirical articles that collectively examine the role of historians of education in the production of public knowledge. Design/methodology/approach This introductory article examines how previously unknown educators or educational institutions entered the public sphere. Beginning with an exemplary case of a female schoolteacher about whom a biography was written and who became famous years later, we conducted an international survey of 32 historians of education from 23 countries to identify additional cases and compare the mechanisms that led to their popularity and fame. Findings The results of the survey showed that, although academic research in many countries has recovered numerous unknown educators – particularly women and exiled persons – only in specific cases has this memory materialised in public recognition, such as streets, murals or commemorative events. We subsequently present some of these cases in five articles: the Republican schoolteachers in Spain, the pedagogical anti-star Mario Lodi in Italy, the sisters Olga and Leticia Cossettini in Argentina, the exiled teachers Charlotte Heckmann and Minna Specht in Germany, and the Eötvös József College in Budapest, Hungary. Originality/value This special issue demonstrates that the visibility of certain educators or institutions does not depend solely on historiographical work, but on the interaction between academic research, political circumstances, social networks, public controversies, and the existence of so-called “windows of opportunities”.